The basic apparatus utilized in the method of the present invention includes a Zero Input Tracking Analyzer, herein after referred to as a ZITA and an Auxiliary Distraction Task device hereinafter referred to as an ADT. These two devices impose primary and secondary tasks, respectively, on a person being tested as generally described in applicant's above-referenced prior patent.
The response of the person under test over a given time interval is scored and recorded as an index of the ability of that person to perform various tasks with and without the imposition of stress. In short, the ability of a given person to perform in any specified environment can be determined.
As more experience with the use of ZITA/ADT diagnostic testing was gained, it became increasingly apparent that the possibility of diagnosing human abnormalities and disfunctions such as hypoactivity, hyperactivity, minimal brain disfunction (MBD), schizophrenia and aphasia as well as the response of persons so diagnosed to corrective treatment would and could be an invaluable aid to such treatment. Thus, a crying need in the art could possibly be solved by the use of ZITA/ADT analysis.
Where the ADT stimulus was merely the random generation of high and low tones to which the tailored responses were, respectively, first and second extreme positions of a control stick, to be performed simultaneously with the primary tracking task imposed by the ZITA, it became readily apparent that reliable results could not be achieved. An ADT format which would universally apply to both young children (under five years of age, for example) pre-teen and teen-age children and adults, and both unhandicapped and handicapped persons in all of the foregoing categories was sorely needed.